Things I Think
1. I don’t give a hoot in hell what you do in your bedroom as long as it’s legal and doesn’t involve cats. I am, however, sick and tired and frankly angry about the demand that I affirm things that I do not believe are normative or consistent with human flourishing for the vast number of humanity…
2. Less than one half of one percent of this nations population is transgender. Somewhere around 5-7 % identifies as LGBTQ. Can someone explain to me why this tiny segment of the population is writing the rules for the church, the government, and the schools?
3. Since when is it righteous or healthy to rob the majority of people of their rights and freedoms to bestow them only on a tiny minority? I refuse such tyranny…
4. Let me be even more clear. The confusion that we are creating and legislating in young minds is both criminal and evil and will prove to be deadly. I oppose it with everything in me…
5. If they had allowed a drag queen into my kids school library, I would have removed my child and knocked out the principal on my way out the door. Little kids are not equipped to understand such things, nor should they be. They should be allowed to be little children…
6. Teenagers have been confused about their sexuality since there have been teenagers. It’s part of the normal process of finding ones identity. Prior generations seem to have sorted this out just fine…
7. It is an outrage to me that I even have to enter this discussion…I am quite willing and able to live peaceably and justly with all manner of diverse people. It is an outrage to me that I am now supposed to view people through the lens of their sexual predilections instead of their character and the other ways we have traditionally measured the civic worth of people…It is an outrage to me that instead of learning mutual respect one group is able to attempt to force me to affirm things I cannot or pay the price…
8. As a small example…when society as a whole thinks it’s fair that men who are “transitioning” into becoming women can participate in women’s sports and (naturally) dominate them, the society has lost it’s collective mind…and oppressed biological women…again…
9. I believe in equal rights and opportunities under the law for all people. I believe in free speech and the freedom to worship as one sees fit. I support civil unions for legal purposes for gay people. I support your right to think me a crank for writing this…but I still have rights as well…
10. I’m not “anti” anyone in this discussion…but I am pro “normal”…understanding fully the broadness of the word…tolerance is a two way street…
And to think that some want to label you as an apostate flaming liberal. 🙂
KevinH,
I think this may get my liberal card revoked… 🙂
“Since when is it righteous or healthy to rob the majority of people of their rights and freedoms to bestow them only on a tiny minority?”
Since one side of the aisle found it politically advantageous to do so. We should have all kinds of compassion and understanding for those who deal with gender issues. Some of what is happening today is a backlash for the opposite of compassion and understanding that took place for a long time. But the pendulum has now been pushed too far the other way.
KevinH,
Well said.
I have compassion for those dealing with gender issues…I have none for those trying to create more confusion…
You will definitely get your “liberal card” revoked. And raise the concern of some who claim to reside in either the “progressive” or “moderate’ camps.
Well said, Michael.
pstrmike,
It was down to either losing my liberal card or my sanity card…I chose the small sanity card… 🙂
Michael @ 9:37. Right on target…
Duck 🙂
Well said!!! And .. thanks for saying it!!!
I really understand and agree with the anger you are feeling. However, we really don’t want a society or state where the majority always rules, do we? Alabama would never have allowed blacks to enter public schools, as an example. As long as courts can rule against the majority we have the possibility of opinions disliked by a majority of the people. I’m not sure what the answer is for a secular state.
The appeal to normalcy, which once ended the discussion about a variety of subjects. no longer carries the weight it once did because as our democracy has gotten more pluralistic what is ‘normal’ is no longer universally held. And, if we cannot agree on what is normal, then I’m not sure anything other than chaos will result.
Bill,
Well said…and I agree.
We’ve rowed into deep waters…
Michael, you’re lucky you don’t work in corporate America, where admitting such things would be tantamount to ethics charges and ultimately, dismissal.
Linnea,
I worked for two of the most “affirming” for years…I hear you.
Enter ye in the strait gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leader to destruction, and many there be which go in. Matthew 7-13, 14……….make you choice…….we all have free will. Hi
Oops that leads to destruction………this iPad has a mind of its own. It is simple, no confusion,. Matthew 7-13, 14…….God makes it simple for us.
I will jump right past the tirade here, as I have no idea where it is even coming from. I have said this here before, I listen to loud and proud LGBTQ people daily on all issues, and nobody in these circles gives a damn what the church does, as they see it on death’s doorstep, regard people like Pence as hopelessly ignorant and scared people, and I gladly agree. I think this is a fabricated thing the church has to sustain some sort of oppressive/persecutorial fear that the church does not actually have. I have moved past this topic out of necessity, I have friends and family who are gay, and there is not a damned thing wrong with them. I get your point, because I was there. I do not agree, but I completely get it. I was part of the sex obsessed religion for decades as we all know. But I will harshly push back on thought #2…
Identification and reality are two different statistics. It is scientifically observed fact that an average of 30% of ALL SPECIES display homosexual or “LGBTQ” behavior, humans included, a fact that is well disregarded in blatant obsessive rebellion. People live in fear, and identify less as a result of hatred, chastisement, and banishment. Period. There is zero discussion to be had in that matter. How this reflects on religious ideology is a problem that is up to you all, as it is your god who purportedly created this dynamic. Again, created sick…
If I could show you just one major denomination that this issue affected in a huge way in 2019, would you then agree that maybe some LGBTQ people do care what is going on inside the church?
Reuben,
There are many LGBTQ lobbies (look up Church Clarity for one) dictating that the church abandon 2000 years of moral theology because they say so.
That’s not tolerance, it’s tyranny, and all tyrants can go straight to hell in my world.
If you think giving hormones and drugs to five year olds who think they are “trans” is a good thing you lost your mind with your faith.
When I was five I thought I could be a cat or Batman, depending on the day…
Reuben’s view, i would answer that next to parenthood, nothing impacts the core of the human (and other animals) as insidiously as the hormones that drive what God intends as a loyalty and one on one intimacy ( in humans) – an intimacy that creates a family – a safe place for nurturing children and coping with life. We humans abuse and debase the gift… The perverse manifestations that occur are less the fault of the individual and more a signal of a corrupted society. The canary in the coal mine…
God is against homosexuality………… Sodom and Gomora??? Spelling. ????? Look what happened to that whole thing…In the last day people will take what is perverted and present it as normal.
I am always confused that it is the church who is accused of sex obsession by a culture that is possessed by sex. Is there anything in our culture that is not sated by every form of sexual obsession conceivable and still trying to conceive more. Get rid of the church and you will beg for someone somewhere to created hedges for protection. Keep tearing down the walls and see what rolls in. No wonder Paul says God gave them up.
One thing is sure we always drink from the cup we pour.
“It is scientifically observed fact that an average of 30% of ALL SPECIES display homosexual behavior”
This is also not a scientifically observed fact. Not that it makes any difference to my point of view, but I always love when people just throw out these random numbers as fact.
Also, “displays homosexual behavior” is about as broad and vague as could be stated. Are we to assume that some species of birds dress really nice and like to shop?
Claiming scientific fact is its own boondoggle that is laden with political interests.
Michael, your “Things I thing” on this topic are the same thoughts I think.
How about incest? I read an article recently that was making the claim that there’s nothing wrong with incest, since birth control will take care of genetic abnormalities. I have observed first hand that animals practice incest, as anyone who finds themselves with a litter of sexually mature rabbits will soon discover.
Bestiality? There’s advocates for that, too.
“Without God all things are permitted.” ― Fyodor Dostoevsky
*Things I THINK.
I genuinely loathe talking about this issue.
It generates more heat than light and it is an impediment to pastoral ministry.
It implies that one favors one side of the political divide in this country…and I do not.
I didn’t plan on speaking to it now.
However…when I see little kids paying the physical and mental price for their parents stupidity, I had to speak.
That is criminal and it’s a form of insanity.
Michael @ 12:08. …. Yes, you have to speak – speak truth to rationalizing and lying . . When it comes to this part of life today, it is kind of like cleaning the litter box ?
Thank you
“If you think giving hormones and drugs to five year olds who think they are “trans” is a good thing you lost your mind with your faith.”
Where did I assert that nonsense?
Reuben,
It’s happening and it’s part and parcel of this campaign to affirm any expression of sexuality as normal, no matter how twisted.
I don’t care what consenting adults do…I care about children being defiled in the process and I’ll be damned if I will be made to “affirm” this sickness as normal.
By the way, I could have written this whole screed without a single reference to the church or my faith.